The B2B Logistics Busan Barcelona Hub logistics platform, which aims to become the main entry point for Korean products in Southern Europe and a distribution center for the Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Italian markets, as well as for North Africa, has begun operations. In fact, more than 55% of Spanish maritime imports from Korea enter through the Port of Barcelona, and 55% of these are destined for Catalonia.
The company B2B Logistics Busan & Barcelona Hub was established last October, with a 51% stake held by the Port of Busan and 49% by the Port of Barcelona.
Half a year after the agreement between the Port of Barcelona and the Port of Busan to create the platform and facilitate trade exchanges and boost the logistics of Korean companies from the ZAL Barcelona, the logistics area makes available to freight forwarders about 9,129 square meters.
The platform's logistics partners are the international firm FM Logistic, which enters ZAL Barcelona with this operation, and the Korean Taewoong Logistics, headquartered in Seoul with offices in Busan, which specializes in the movement of chemical products and had not yet operated in Europe.
Trade relations between South Korea and Mediterranean Europe will be strengthened with the logistics area that will receive the first Korean imports ---a shipment of chemical products--- in the coming days. In 2021, traffic between the Port of Barcelona and Korea amounted to 793,000 tons, a figure similar to that reached in 2019, before the pandemic. Container traffic was about 60,000 TEUs, 6.3% more than the containers moved in 2019.
The Port of Barcelona has reported that B2B Logistics Busan Barcelona Hub is working with the Tax Agency to operate as a temporary storage facility (ADT). Later, the idea is for the platform to also be certified as a Public Customs Warehouse (DAP), meaning with customs authorization to store, without time limit, non-community goods without liquidating taxes until a customs destination is given.